"If you're Fitzy, you've got to be really excited about the opportunity of having those three selections that you can actually call your own. And the way I would game-plan is when I look at some of the acquisitions of some of those close to NHL ready prospects last year, Nolan Foote, Nick Merkely, Nate Schnarr, those type of players who are very close to being able to make that jump, I think you can afford a little bit of leeway here."
Cosentino then outlined what type of acquisitions could be interesting for New Jersey in the 18 and 20 spot.
"So, the strategy that I would probably take into this is at seven, I take the best player available. At 18, I'd be probably looking to address a positional need and a puck moving defenseman, offensive type defenseman is someone that I think would have to be near the top of the list for the New Jersey Devils at that point.
"And then at 20, I might be thinking about hitting a home run," he continued, "maybe going off the board a little bit, maybe a Hendrix Lapierre, who was injured for most of the year, and didn't get a chance to really get a solid look at him other than what he did at the Hlinka Gretzky tournament going back to last August. And so that's probably the approach. I take seven best player, 18 positional need, 20 maybe try and hit a home run there."
For more insight on the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, make sure to tune into this week's edition of the Speak of the Devils Podcast, hosted by Matt Loughlin and Amanda Stein as they welcome Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino.
